Down the Rabbit Hole
by DustTilDawn
Summary: Velvet is entering her Junior Year at Beacon Academy. As she juggles school, fighting, and planning a dance, she finds that her feelings for her teammates are changing. Will her team fall apart as she struggles to find the thin line between love and friendship? Rated T for homosexual themes, violence, and bloodshed
1. Velveteen

"Oww! That hurts." I screamed as my ears were yanked back. They twitched in Cardin Winchester's callous and malicious hands. "Please stop." This wasn't new. Cardin and the rest of his friends enjoyed to tease me, and anyone else who didn't fight back for that matter. Most days, they'd leave me alone because Yatsuhashi was around, but he couldn't defend me forever.

However, my pleas went unheard as he just yanked harder. "I told you it was real." He was laughing. I wanted to ask what kind of horrible person laughed as they inflicted pain onto others, but he wasn't the first person to tease me for being a Faunus, and he wouldn't be the last.

"What a freak." I didn't know which one of his hateful friends said those words. I barely heard them since Cardin finally let go. Their insults intermingled with their laughter until I could barely hear anything else. The only thing I wanted to do was cover my face and get out of that lunchroom as soon as possible.

"Velvet!" Someone was shouting my name again. It wasn't someone I hated, but I didn't want to see them right now either. "Velvet. As your leader, I know you hear me and I command you to stand still right now." Her soft but demanding voice couldn't be ignored. I froze in place with my arms over my face. Coco's demands were absolute. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY disobeyed Coco.

"Very good. Now my dear Velvet, please tell me why you were running away from my luxurious voice?" She was joking. It was obvious from the look on her face. She wasn't happy, but she was smiling in that ironic way she does before she decided to tear someone apart limb from limb.

"I um…I…You're not wearing your uniform." I tried to come up with a good excuse, but diverting her attention was the best I could do. There was no point. Even if I could think of something good, Coco would see through it in a heartbeat. She was just too good at everything.

"Velvet, you're a third year. You're 18 years old. Why are you letting a freshman like Cardin pick on you?! It's not like you're 16 again and it's Dean-"

"Please don't talk about Dean."

"At least he was an upperclassman. He had that whole elderly thing going for him. I let it slide for a semester before he really crossed the line." And she wasn't listening to me. Whenever someone picked on me, she liked to bring up Dean. When I was a freshman, he was the Cardin of the school. It's actually possible they were related since I no longer remember his last name. "But you will be the victim no longer! You're older than him! You're stronger than him! You're a member of team CFVY! Live up to the name! We're graduating next year and you're still letting freshman have their way with you!"

"Who's having their way with Velvet?" Oh, this was not good. That was Fox, and he did not sound happy, or even neutral. He typically sounded neutral.

"Cardin Winchester. He's been teasing her again." Coco's replies were swift and to the point. How I wish I could be like her.

"….You should phrase things better, Coco." Yatsuhashi was always calm, always the most reliable. He was also too blunt for his own good. My entire face was drained of color.

With a little luck, I might've been able to talk down Coco but Fox, Yatsuhashi, AND Coco was impossible. Completely and utterly impossible. In fact, they were already about to enter the cafeteria.

"Wait! Please listen to me. Nothing happened," Last ditch efforts were pathetic.

"Hey Velvet. Looking good." His sarcastic and mocking voice was unmistakable. The situation had gone from bad to worse. Cardin and his friends had just walked out of the cafeteria. They seemed as carefree as could be, a near perfect picture of how they were a few minutes ago. Then they noticed that the rest of my team was also here. I almost felt bad for them. "Ohh, and uh…Coco. Fox. Yatu…Yatu-"

"It's Yatsuhashi." The rest of Cardin's team ran away. Smart choice had Yatsuhashi and Fox not gone after them. Cardin was the only left to take all of Coco's hits, but it was clear she wouldn't let him off easy.

He pulled out his club, but Coco was faster. Her purse knocked it right out of his hands. She wouldn't pull out her gun here. She wasn't trying to killing him. Oh, I hope she wouldn't kill him.

Without the club, he was defenseless. He tried to run, but Coco was faster, even in her 5 inch heels. It was miraculous. She had him pinned down under her boots in a matter of seconds. "So Cardin, what makes you think you can pick on our little Velvet?"

"Ugh…Crap… I don't know what you mean. We were just talking. Right? Right, Velvet?" He was looking at me, pleading with his eyes. It almost looked like he was about to cry. Coco kicked him in the ribs.

"Don't look at her." Coco very nearly sounded angry. She brought her face extremely close to his. It would've seemed extremely sensual had he not looked so very afraid. I'm sure he was about to wet his pants and I did not blame him. "Look in my eyes Winchester. Don't look at her. Don't talk to her. If I ever see you near her again, I'll break your legs." She slammed her bag down onto his legs to accentuate her point. I could hear something crack. Cardin was groaning in pain. "Understand?"

I couldn't stop myself from nodding my head helplessly. I didn't want her to hurt him anymore, but I didn't exactly want him to hurt me anymore either. He seemed to get the point as he nodded along helplessly with me.

"Good. Now run along and go find those things you call friends. Fox and Yatsuhashi should be just about done with them." She had the most satisfied smile on her face.

* * *

><p>That night, Coco gave me the second longest speech of her life. The first was when I had gone to her expressing how I felt very helpless in battle. She vehemently denied such things and proclaimed that I was dumb for ever thinking it. "You are a very important asset to my team, got it? Don't ever think otherwise." It was scary, but it was also very nice of her.<p>

By the end of her speech, she looked even more energized than before. It was hard to imagine Coco ever being tired or sleepy. Fox had already gone to sleep. Yatsuhashi was meditating. Our noise could never distract him. I slept above him. It was really nice most of the time.

"I understand Coco. I'll be more assertive. I won't let them bully me anymore." I'm not sure how many times I've actually said those words. But whenever Coco is unhappy, that's my way of appeasing her anger. I'm not sure if she just likes it when I apologize or if she really believes I'll change. It's a pretty really big mystery to me.

As usual, she seemed satisfied and went to sleep. When I had first met Coco, I didn't believe she needed sleep. She seemed to run on sass and power. However, the more time I spent with her, the more I realized she was almost just a normal girl.

These thoughts were still on my mind when I tried to sleep. I was never very good at falling asleep. Maybe it was because I was a Faunus. Everything looked so much prettier at night. The colors weren't as bright or as sharp. It was serene, like a perfect painting that didn't need any special finishing touches.

I got out of bed. It wasn't very dark outside, but my eyes made it very easy for me to see everything anyway. Vale was very pretty at night. The lights on the other side of the lake made it look completely different. It was just the city, and I'd been there a thousand times before, but it felt like the world was a completely new place when I was alone like this.

I didn't hate people, but I never really knew how to talk to them. When I got older I realized Faunus and humans weren't meant to be friends. Then I met the rest of Team CFVY. They didn't see me a Faunus or as an animal. To them, I was just Velvet.

I touched my ears gently. I used to hate being a Faunus. I hated the way I talked because it gave away the fact that I grew up in Menagerie. I hated my eyes, my ears, my nose. I hated everything about myself.

"Velvet."

I turned around, surprised. "Yatsuhashi? What are you doing out here? We're supposed to be sleeping. We have early classes tomorrow."

"I heard you leave the room."

"You followed me here?" He nodded, mutely. He was direct and to the point. He was always like that. He didn't ask questions either. Perhaps the best way to describe him was the opposite of Coco, but they did have a few things in common. They were both caring, kind, strong. Everyone on the team embodied those traits. They took care of me. I was useless to them.

I turned back around and he stood beside me, not saying a word. His presence was solid. He was like a rock, but he felt more comforting than that. "Why did you follow me?"

"To make sure you were okay." I could feel a blush creeping onto my cheeks. He didn't mean it in a romantic way. He would've done it for any of the others, but he took care of me more than the others did. He was more than just my friend like Fox, or a protector like Coco. He was constant, indescribable.

"Thank you. You didn't have to. I can protect myself, and I don't think anyone will be bullying me anymore after what happened earlier."

"I know."

I looked at him with surprise. "You know?"

"You are a good fighter. All you lack is a little confidence."

"If you think that, why do you always stay by my side during battle? Why do you try and protect me?"

"Because you do not believe any of it."

I step back a little in my shock. He was right of course. My team told me all the time that I was a good fighter and I was important and all that, but I never really believed it. I couldn't. I saw myself in battle compared to them and I felt like nothing but a burden. It was always them. They were always doing better. They were always the ones on the front lines who took down the monsters while I did nothing but watch. I could fight, but not like them.

Yatsuhashi stayed with me. I didn't ask him any more questions and he didn't say anything else, but he stayed with me in all his solidarity. The sky was still twinkling with an immeasurable number of stars when we walked back into the dorm rooms. Fox was nowhere to be found but Coco was sleeping soundlessly with some cloth over eyes.

That night, when I went to sleep, I dreamt of my team. I dreamt of my friends in a way I had never seen them. Fox and Yatsuhashi were grinning. They weren't armed to the teeth like military officers. They looked more relaxed than I've ever seen them. Coco was lying on the ground. Her sunglasses were nowhere to be found. She looked sleepy, watching the boys of the team. She looked older too. She beckoned me to come sit by her.

As I sat down, I realized that neither of us was dressed very appropriately. We were in bathing suits. I pulled my arms around myself to cover as much skin as I could, but it did little to help. It wasn't a very large bikini.

"You're so cute, Velvet." She touched the tips of her lips to my forehead. My mouth dropped in shock. My entire body felt like it was on fire. I wanted to run away or melt into the ever-expanding dark ground.

My forehead still tingled when I woke up in the morning.


	2. Cocoa

A few months passed very quietly. My first semester as a junior was quite wonderful without Cardin's bullying. I had time to work on my new weapon in Weaponry 313: Swords, Guns, and More Guns. I normally fought barehanded as most of my previous weapons tended to explode. I spent my days honing my craft: compatibility with my semblance, compartments for dust, changing parts, I had to work on these things every day. These sort of days were my favorite.

As usual, I was the first one up. I was the only one out of the four of them who took History of Remnant 101, a typical first year course. I had skipped it for the last two years because I wanted the extra practice in my combat classes, but I still needed to pass it to graduate. I climbed out of bed without a sound. It wasn't very hard. I had light feet and the floorboards were some sort of magic wood that never creaked.

I looked around at my sleeping roommates. It seemed miraculous to me that Coco could sleep in her sunglasses or that Fox had no problems sleeping nearly nude with three other people. I've shared my room with them for three years and it not once have I woken up to see Fox with more than his underwear and maybe a blanket. Yatsuhashi liked to smile in a childish sort of way in his sleep. They were certainly something special.

I hurried to the bathroom with my uniform. I didn't like changing in the room in case one of them woke up, but that hardly ever happened this early in the morning. If one of them did, it would've been Fox and it wouldn't have mattered in his case.

The classroom was still relatively empty when I got there. Blake Belladonna and Pyrrha Nikkos were sitting in the second row but we weren't very good friends. Pyrrha was friendly enough but she was also a minor celebrity. I found it very hard to know what to speak to her about. As for Blake, I had the vague feeling that I'd seen her somewhere before, but I wasn't all that sure from where. She also gave me goose bumps for no real reason at all.

Soon, the rest of the other students started filing in. I didn't know many of the people in the class. There was a senior who was a Faunus, but we didn't talk very much and he liked to sit in the back with his friends. I liked to sit in the front by myself. On the first day, it was mainly to avoid Cardin who sat in the middle of the back rows.

Professor Oobleck began as soon as the clock hit 7. I didn't see him walk into the room. He immediately delved into the history of the Faunus Uprising, a subject that every Faunus in the world has a perfect recollection of. It didn't matter that most of us were just infants when it happened. It didn't matter which kingdom a Faunus was from. We did not forget the bloodshed that comes with being a Faunus.

"Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?"

I looked around me. Cardin wasn't paying attention. He was staring down at Juane Arc, a freshman who was known as one of the weakest among the first years. His team was very well-known though. Nora Valkyrie was very close to breaking the benching in Ms. BeiFong's class. His team also had Pyrrha, and a boy named Lie Ren, who was known for scoring extremely well on tests.

I slowly raised my head. Professor Oobleck looked at me with a mixture of what seemed like pity and fascination. "Dreadful, simply dreadful. Remember students, it's simply this kind of behavior that breeds violence."

The lesson went by quickly. Professor Oobleck always did a great job of keeping his students engaged. I think it has something to do with the way he talks but I can never be too sure as it just doesn't seem to remain at the same speed. Last class, he blazed through a 4000-year history of the four kingdoms.

As I was leaving, I bumped into Coco outside looking down at her scroll. She looked perfectly out of place because she was once again, out-of-uniform. "Coco? What are you doing here?"

She looks up from whatever she was doing with a happy smile. "Waiting for you, of course! Why, my dear Velvet, how can we start our game of _Cartel_ without you? The boys are setting up the board as we speak."

My mouth was opening and closing without my consent. I understood the words she was saying. I understood what she meant. However, I couldn't wrap my mind around what Coco actually thought I was doing. "But I have class. I have to go. You can play _Cartel_ with three people."

"Absolutely not. I don't know why you signed yourself up for so many classes. You know that you'll graduate whether or not you take them. There's only a few that are actually required. The really important stuff is the missions. You're wasting your time with Animal Familiars." She was already dragging me away in the opposite direction. She was only a little taller than me, but she seemed infinitely stronger.

"But Coco-"

"No buts! We're going to play _Cartel_ whether you like it or not." Her heels clicked on the marble floors enunciating every single one of her commanding syllables.

**(A/N: Cartel is based off of an American Game by ****Rikki Tahta**** called Coup. The object of the game is basically to bluff until you can kill off the other players.")**

Five minutes later, I was sitting in between Yatsuhashi and Coco in the library. I still had both my lives, but that was only because no one targeted me yet. I was playing a bit better than Yatsuhashi, who was down to one. Coco had two lives, but she didn't have enough lien to perform another kill.

"So Coco, why are we playing today?" Fox, subtle as the animal he was named after. We were all wondering the same thing. Coco only called for a bout of random board games when she was annoyed or had a problem she couldn't solve.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She answered, as she grabbed two coins.

"Is it Lilac? Did the two of you break up?"

Coco scoffed. "She's old news. We didn't work out. Personality problems."

"Did you meet someone new?" I grabbed two coins.

"Not quite. Do you guys remember Heliotrope?" We all nodded while Yatsuhashi switched his cards.

"Aren't they from the same team?" I remembered him. He was a Faunus. He had also been a recent interest before Lilac became a rendezvous companion in some mysterious corner.

Fox grabbed three coins as a Hologram, totaling 10. He had enough lien to kill someone off next turn. "You didn't."

"They're fighting over me. It's tearing the team apart." She seemed completely nonchalant from where I was sitting.

"You're seeing someone else aren't you?" And Fox with the obvious answers that I somehow always missed.

Coco nodded before grabbing two coins. "Morado."

My hand paused with two coins in midair. "Isn't he on Team PLHM too?"

"Whose turn is it?" Yatsuhashi raised his hand. He didn't like to speak very loudly in the library. This was a problem as Fox needed everyone to be speaking to actually play.

He took a minute looking over his options. "I use three lien to use Berserk and take out Velvet's card, because I'm a Grim. And yes, Velvet, he is on team PLHM."

I started sputtering. "You can't do that!"

"Well, do you call his attack a lie then?" Fox had the best poker face. That's probably why he was so good at this game. Fox never lost to anyone. Agh. Yatsuhashi had said that he was the Councilman earlier so he could switch cards. It's possible he drew the Grim card from that deck and now he could just snipe me out. I didn't say anything. If I let his attack pass, I would be down to one life. If I called his attack a lie, try and defend myself, and it wasn't, I'd lose both. This decision-making process was impossible.

"It's a lie, Velvet. Call him out." Coco's face was impassive. I looked over at her, and she seemed to be cooling examining her nails, paying little to no attention the board. If I didn't hear her so clearly, I wouldn't have known she said anything at all. She looked as innocent as a baby dove.

"Stop cheating Coco." Fox's hearing was perfect. It was probably even better than most Faunus. He should've been the referee. It would have made the game slightly less unfair that way. "You know you can't interfere with someone's kill."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Coco liked to bend the rules, but she pretended to respect them for the sake of the game. In reality, she knows that we'll stop playing board games with her if she ever used her leader authority on any of us.

"So Velvet, what do you do?" Everyone's eyes were trained on me. Even Coco's behind her sunglasses.

"I…I... call out your bluff!" I squeaked the words. I'd meant to whisper-scream it, but I'm not very good at doing that.

When he reached for his card, I knew it was over. He'd been a Grim. Both of my lives were shot and I was the first one out again. I let my head drop to the table in defeat. My ears knocked over Fox's carefully stacked cardboard lien but he didn't seem to mind. He reached over the table to pat me on the head. "It's okay Velvet. You win some, you lose some. At least you're not like Coco, dating every single person on a single team and ruining their entire chemistry. Weren't you with Perse for a week last semester?"

Coco shrugged in response. We'll never know, I guess.

The game continued without me. During Fox's turn, he used his ten lien to take out one of Coco's cards which turned out to be Hologram, thus killing her money source. Coco in turn tried to snipe him with a Berserk Kill but he called her out on a bluff and blew up her final life. It was all coming down to this.

Yatsuhashi down to one life and 7 lien. Fox still had two, with 0 lien in his pocket.

"I'll take three lien because I'm the Hologram."

"I'll let it pass." Fox took one coin. Holograms could block Communication, thus stopping Fox's chances of getting 2 lien every turn.

The turn was over. Both men were still standing. However Yatsuhashi had 10 lien. He shot at one of Fox's lives. He flipped over Natural barriers, a useless card except as the only defense to a Grim's killing rage. He then grabbed coin 2.

Yatsuhashi took three again with Hologram's powers. Fox took his third coin.

"I'm going to kill you with Berserk because I'm the Grim." This was it, the final bluff. If Fox, did have Grim, he would win, if not, it was all on Yatsuhashi to break the champion's record.

"You're bluffing."

Fox flipped over his card. On it, were three Beowulf howling at the moon. Fox had won. _Again_. Coco flipped the table.

We were all thrown out moments later.

That night, as I was twitching slightly from the anxiety from missing class, Coco began to explain her plans for the dance. She had signed up for the responsibility earlier as none of the seniors wanted to do it. Every year, the Vytal Festival was held in celebration of the fall of the kings in Remnant, and the end to longest war in our recorded history. We're hosting the tournament this year, which means we're also hosting the dance beforehand.

Coco had instructed us all that before we even planned the decorations, food, and such, we would have to first learn how to dance.

"As we learned last year, Yatsuhashi and Velvet was born without the ability to move in rhythm to music. I will not let that be true this year. This year you will all have partners. This year, you will be on that dance floor. You will shake your hips in time to music whether you like it or not."

"The juniors have a mission next week. Will we make it back in time for the Vytal festival?" Yatsuhashi really did not want to learn to dance.

"We'll only be on our mission for 2 weeks. The festival is in a month and a half. We'll have plenty of time to do our mission, plan the dance, and then relax." Fox's eyes were closed as he performed an elegant sidestep in his waltz pattern. It always bothered me that someone who couldn't see, and who was the most radical fighter could twirl his feet so quickly.

"Right. So let's get started. Yatuhasi, mirror Fox's movements. Velvet, I'll be working with you. Put these on." She turned on some music before handing me a pair of stilts. The heel was about 2 inches off the ground. I could feel tears crawling into my eyes.

I did as I was told. They didn't feel all that bad until I stood up. "Those shoes are for practice. The ones you'll wear for the dance are an inch taller." Now I really was crying. "Okay, give me your hand. For now, you can rest your weight on me, but during the dance, you'll be standing on your own."

I did as I was told. Coco put her right hand on my waist, and held up my right hand with her left. She tried to move me to my left, but I was already tripping. Her arm wrapped around my middle, keeping me on my feet. "I can't do this."

"Yes you can. Pull yourself together. Count with me, one two three, one two three." I looked over at Yatsuhashi and his ineptitude at following Fox made me feel a little better. He seemed to be lumbering into the beds as Fox twirled around them like a tiny muscled ballerina.

"Eyes, up front Velvet." I had to tilt my head up to look at her sunglasses. "Don't cry. You're doing better already, see?" She was right. My feet still hurt a lot, but I could move my feet in time with hers. Coco, laughed at my surprise. "Here, if you feel tired, you can lean on me." She was offering me her shoulder, but if I did, my ears were sure to tickle her cheeks.

After about half an hour Coco changed the tune to something faster. "Okay, now. Fox and I will show you how to dance to this kind of music. You and Yatsuhashi will follow." They started first, with some complex pop movements.

As the night continued, I kicked away the heels before Coco caught me. Yatsuhashi let me stand on his feet in some semblance of romantic dancing, but we really just moved slowly in circles. Coco yelled at us for it, but when we went to bed that night, we were all smiling.

**A/N: Team PLHM is pronounced as team Plum because everything about them is purple. And yes, I made a cat kills rabbits reference. Sorry Blake.I'll be updating between this and mindless so expect a chapter every 2 weeksish? I'll probably be late around the holidays. But here's an early Thanksgiving gift.  
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	3. YuanYang

I flipped through the air, using the heads of a Nevermore like platforms. They fell at my feet. Fox, Yatsuhashi, and Coco were all fighting below me. I was better suited for aerial combat since I could jump higher and farther. Coco, probably could have shot them down, but no one wanted to waste the dust. We might have to be stuck here for a while.

Coco, Fox, and Yatsuhashi could handle the young Ursa no matter how many of them there were, and there were quite a few. At least, 2 dozen. The Nevermore weren't a problem either as they weren't fully grown. The Grim fell quickly. I jumped down from the tree and Yatsuhashi caught me effortlessly.

"Coco, where are we?"

She pulled out her scroll. "According to Maple we're still inside the borders of Central Atlas, but the feed that was recovered from the Atlesian Droids says the cargo disappeared from inside the train at the river when they were attacked by Grim."

"What kind?" That was Fox. His ears were listening for more Grim activity. He was tracking them.

"An army of Death Stalkers, and something that looked like this." The image on her scroll was definitely a Grim, but it didn't look like any that we had ever seen before. The red eyes, black fur, and white body armor were their telltales. However this Grim looked something like a large skinny horse, except the nozzle was longer and pointier while wings protruded from its back.

"Do either of you hear them?" Yatsuhashi asked.

I pricked my ears, searching in the opposite direction of Fox while looking into his milky white eyes. He couldn't see me of course, but he had a good sense of when someone was looking at him. He grabbed my hand, and it was then that I heard it, the scuttle of feet; thin, pointed feet. Death stalkers.

"There!" We both turned and pointed in the same general direction. Southwest, further into the forests and down into the seas that divided Atlas and Vale. Earlier in the week, we had found the abandoned train there. The Schnee logo had been fading from the side. We walked in that direction for a few hours before we hit a small shack. It was likely the home of some poor nomad before he was attacked by Grim.

The inside of it was dirty but well-furnished with a bed and several rugs. There was firewood, some matches and a pot that was probably used to make basic meals. Shelters like these were not hard to find in the woods. For some odd reason, Grim did not attack these little wooden cabins the way they did the metal structures of man unless there were actual people inside. This was where we would sleep for the night.

I set up a campfire. It was required in school to learn how to do so in early Elementary. Yatsuhashi had been carrying the food. He pulled out a can of tuna and two more cans of various meats. The front of one of them read, Whole Turkey. As he roasted them, Fox followed me outside to collect food.

I was a vegetarian. We deemed it stupid to carry any vegetables when plants were easy to find in the forest. Basil, clovers, and lettuce would fill up my stomach pretty quickly and would help spice up their canned meats.

I spotted some mushrooms in a corner and bent down for those first.

"Thank you Fox, but you didn't have to come out here to help me."

"I'm not here to help you. I'm here to work with you."

Ah, that was Fox. He could always find a nicer way of saying things if he wanted to. He tended to be nicer to me than to Coco when he phrased things. "But how can you work with me when you can't see?"

"I can hear you move. I know where you are and I trust your judgment in plants. I'm just here to carry all the stuff back." He held up the emptied tuna can.

I proceeded to throwing in the various green vegetables and mushrooms that I found. He was a good companion. He talked more than Yatsuhashi but less than Coco. He was also closer to my height so he was less scary.

"Grim." I heard it too. The slithering. It would've been a snake had it not been so quiet. A monster of that size wasn't meant to be quiet. "Velvet, move to the left. We'll corner it."

Fox put the can on the ground before climbing into a tree. I followed his lead. It was unlikely that the position would do us any good, but I could see better from the trees. "Vee!"

I jumped. Fox dived toward me, his fists reeled back, ready to swing. The Taijitu had been behind me. I grabbed onto the branch before swinging back and joining him in the attack. Fox's blades didn't seem to be having any effect on it. The white skeletal armor covered its entire body.

"Velvet! Distraction!"

"Got it!" I slammed my feet into its head, stunning it for a moment. It didn't fall but it reeled from me, trying to attack again. It lunged. I dived forward, feeling for my aura. I could do this. Clear arms rose from the ground and wrapped itself around the Taijitu. It's tail thrashed, trying to break free.

However, Fox saw his chance, he came running from the left and punched straight through the Grim's eye. A grim had exoskeleton protecting its entire frame with two exceptions: Its eyes and mouth. The blast blew the pupil off the other end. The battle was over.

Fox and I resumed our scavenge for wild plants before walking to the stream. I helped him clean off some of the ash that remained from the battle. The blood of Grim tended to dissolve into ash.

Before walking into the cabin, he stopped me. "Here, I brought these for you." He pulled a small baggie out of his pocket and handed it to me. It was brimming with celery sticks. "Hide those. Coco doesn't like it when we baby you, but I know she probably brought you carrots too. I heard her stuffing her bag this morning."

I hugged him from behind. My arms around his neck and my head to his back. "Thank you. All of you."

Inside the cabin, Coco was napping on her bag. It was actually a gun, but that didn't really scare anyone. It wouldn't transform without Coco flinging it.

I huddled up between Yatsuhashi and Fox as they spiced up the canned meat. It had been a rough couple of days, but I was happy as long as I was with everyone, munching on mint leaves.

You might be wondering why we were walking around Atlas fighting off Grim left and right. We've been here for a little over a week already. Seven days after that disastrous first practice, Yatsuhashi and I had more than enough of our fair share of fancy moves, twirling on our toes, and avoiding Coco. I still went to class of course, but I took it upon myself to wear a hat and sunglasses when I left my classes in case Coco came running to look for me. Yatsuhashi felt complied to hide with me, but considering he was the tallest person in the school, it only made us both all the more transparent.

However, we didn't have to hide anymore. She wouldn't make us practice something like dancing while we were on an away mission. Fox and Coco were waiting for us in the main hall when we got there.

The hall was crowded with upperclassman from every kingdom. They had come for the tournament with their Headmasters but they were still obligated to perform missions before the Vytal Festival. It was required that Huntsmen and Huntresses participated on a mission once every semester, even the ones in training. Fully-fledged Huntsmen participated in them every season, but they were dangerous nonetheless.

The tournament for the Vytal Festval lasted the entire semester so the other students had to participate in Beacon's missions while separating them by grade over the course of the month. The freshman would only go on their mission after the dance while the sophomores would miss it altogether. However, all four grades will have participated in the missions before the tournament began.

Headmaster Ozpin was standing on top of the stage. He seemed ready to give a speech, as he always did to encourage his students. He looked imposing, but kind.

"Mistril, Atlas, Vaccuo, Vale, the four kingdoms of Vale. Eighty years ago the greatest war in our recorded history ended. Kingdoms came together, united as one. The Vytal Festival was commended as our way of remembering those who fought, and those who still fight to protect that which we hold dear: Individualism. We all stand here together as a reminder of that victory. As Juniors at the various combat schools around the world, you are tasked with completing a mission outside of the kingdom. You may be tasked with eliminating Grim, or investigating suspicious activity. However, no matter what path you take, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do you very best."

Professor Ozpin left the stage shortly thereafter, leaving us to decide our own fates. "What'll it be?" Fox asked.

We hadn't moved quite yet. Coco was looking around the room, however, none of us were quite sure what it was she was looking for. "That one, there. Follow me." She led us to one of the corner panels. "Search and rescue. A cargo train full of supplies was stolen by the Grim in the Southern Atlesian Mountains."

Coco was from Atlas, but she wasn't a fan of the mountains or the terrain. She had told us that her family moved from there when she was young. I could see no reason why she'd want to do this mission in particular, but none of us had any objections to it. Well, Team CFVY was headed for the Atlesian Mountains.

That's pretty much the whole story. We've been here ever since, eating canned food and looking for the missing supplies. Coco woke up for a moment but fell asleep again soon after. Her head was on my lap but the rest of her body was sprawled over Fox.

We had to find that train soon. We hadn't even found the tracks yet but I was worn down from all the fights. Sooner or later, our food supply would run out. Every day it was wave after wave of Grim. Even though I knew the team was looking after me and keeping me from anything too strenuous, I couldn't keep up with them.

"Do you think we should follow the train tracks down to the ravine?" The idea had been on my mind for the past couple days but I hadn't thought to voice it. We had decided to abandon the train as it was unlikely the Grim would go back to it, but it wasn't impossible. Trains still passed by this way. They might decide to attack again.

"We tried that. The cargo was probably dragged off by the Grim." Yatsuhashi answered. His voice was patient and kind.

"I know, but I don't think even a Deathstalker would want to take a stash of human supplies very far off. If we looked around the caves in the ravine, maybe we'll find them. They live in caves."

The boys were silent for a minute as they thought about this possibility. "We should try it, but have no idea how many Grim might be down there. We might not make it out with the supplies."

"We should split up." I answered. "If one of us went back with the idea-"

"No." We all shut up. Her voice was clear. Coco had been awake all along. "We're not splitting up. There's too many Grim. Leaving anyone to go anywhere by themselves will be the same as murder. Velvet, your plan was a good one. We'll go down to the caves tomorrow. We'll find the cargo, and then we'll leave. The train tracks are still operating. As long as we can get the cargo back on the train, we can transport it back into the city.

Her plan made sense. Her plans always made sense. It's what made her our leader, and why we listened to her almost unconditionally. None of us made a noise to contradict her.

"Good. Now pass me some of that tuna."

Coco ate like a storm, but she was asleep again soon after. Her arms were wrapped around me protectively. I slept next to her without pause for several hours before waking up to some noise. Yatsuhashi was still asleep next to me, but I could see the silhouettes of Fox and Coco standing on the other side of the fire pit.

"Why?" That was Fox. They was whispering very quietly. So quietly in fact, that I almost didn't hear them.

"Because I'm a leader, and being a leader means putting the team before all else. We only have a week left to find the cargo. Even if we found it tomorrow, we would never make it back in time. Getting out of there mountains will wear everyone out."

"Are you sure?"

"You know me. I never regret my decisions."

Neither of them spoke for a moment but then I could hear Fox whispering even quieter than before. "They'll want to know. They deserve to. If they did, they'd help you. We all would."

"Don't say anything. You're smart, Fox. You know this is best. Promise me." He nodded, and moved in to embrace her. She didn't do anything at first, but then she turned around and slowly kissed him.

It wasn't my business. I didn't want to know. I turned around to find that Yatsuhashi was awake. He put his finger to his lips before pressing my head to his chest. Silently, inexplicably, I began crying into his chest.


End file.
